If you are unemployed, underemployed and are having difficult finding a job I’d like to talk to you. Email me at louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Jay-Z’s new book Decoded: Atlantic Yards Report

Atlantic Yards drama: Brooklyn Paper

City council to report on NY food industry: NY Times

Bushwick Community Board Live: Bushwick BK

Call for beat cops, school funds at FGA: The Local

Volunteers needed at soup kitchen: Ditmas Park Blog

What they are or aren’t giving thanks for: Brooklyn Paper

Miss Kelly, the friendly and enthusiastic parent coordinator at Williamsburg Preparatory High School, agreed to give us a personal tour of the school because there are no more open houses or tours scheduled.

We met up with her in the office she shares with the Parent Coordinators of Brooklyn Preparatory High School and Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design, the other schools that share the old Harry Van Arsdale High School Complex on North 6th Street and Driggs, a large building with an elevator that at one time was a very tough school.

That’s one of the reasons why there are still metal detectors in the lobby. Everyone is required to go through the metal detectors when they enter the school. It’s a noisy and jangling process but one that the students seem to take in stride.  We watched as one student was asked to remove her boots and was told by a policewoman that some kids try to sneak in their cell phones that way.

Once beyond the metal detectors, the school feels very safe. We took the elevator to the 4th floor and stepped out into the spacious, sunny and well-decorated corridors of Williamsburg Prep, a school of approximately 500 students, which takes up one entire floor and uses another floor that is dedicated to science laboratories and classrooms.

Continue reading High School Tour Confidential: Williamsburg Prep →

My mother and I went down to Washington to attend the Petra Foundation awards dinner on Saturday night. The Petra Foundation is best described as an organization that facilitates and supports individuals who work on behalf of “the rights, dignity and autonomy of others.”

Part of what the foundation does is honor (and reward) unsung and under-financed individuals and grass roots organizations, that help the abused, the incarcerated, the marginalized, the underrepresented and the poor in the United States. A group of “Petra fellows”  are selected each year (from a long list of nominees) and honored for the work they do.

But that’s not all. Since its founding in 1988, Petra has created a growing leadership network of fellows that helps to connect them to each other and others involved in the battle for human rights in this country.

In a sense, the Petra Foundation is a nurturing community that helps sustain, renew, connect and mentor those who work tirelessly on behalf of others. They help the helpers and make it possible for them to carry on with resources and support (and access to allies, advocates and policy makers) that might not otherwise be available to them.

Last night Petra honored Brooklyn’s Anuradha Bhagwati who runs the Service Women’s Action Network, a group that addresses the abuses suffered by servicewomen and female veterans; Carrie Ann Lucas, an advocate for the disabled; Maria Jimenz, who is considered “the go-to person for strategic advice before engaging in an immigrants’ rights battle”; and Wahleah Johns of the Black Mesa Water Coalition, which advocates for a “prosperous, green and transparently governed Navajo Nation.”

Continue reading Petra Foundation: Helping Those Who Help the Disenfranchised →

We haven’t made it over to the Urban Assembly Harbour School on Governor’s Island yet but I hear great things. This small public school has, according to its website, “a rigorous, college preparatory curriculum that instills stewardship skills by utilizing New York City’s waterways.”

This week, Joyce Szuflita of NYC School Help took the tour and has lots to say about this exciting, new school. Here’s an excerpt. You can read the rest at Joyce’s blog.

I got out of bed at the crack of dawn to head to the Governor’s Island Ferry yesterday. I have been anxious to see the new Harbor School building. I wondered what kids who are always a little late in the morning would do with a “be there or wait an hour for a ferry” schedule. I finished the tour at 11 totally in love with the kids, staff and curriculum. As the parent of seniors, who sees college essay themes everywhere I look, I couldn’t help but think of the great story these kids will tell. I dare you not to tear up when you watch this video about the school…

Illustration by Kevin Kocses: www.kevinkocses.carbonmade.com

I just heard from Tai Allen, who is hosting a poetry slam at BAMCafe at 9PM tonight. You can get there earlier and catch the Happy Hour that’s 5:30 until 8PM. Here’s Tai’s email it’s kinda poetic:

hey folks,
i am long-time ny and bed-stuy resident (my life basically)…
i am also a pretty good poet/singer/visual artist/interactive developer.
and this week, while i am back from a short tour, i am presenting
a poetry event at BAM/BAMCafe via the Brooklyn Art Council.
http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=2752

i know it is hella at the last minute but maybe we can have the event posted
on your site. AND we would love for you to come and enjoy too.
a lil blurb on me, to show i am repping the stuy properly:
http://bit.ly/taicentric

thanks for the moment of your time

So that’s happening tonight (Friday, Nov 19) at 9:00PM at BAM: Poetry, rap, ghost stories, and verbal duels duke it out in this animated evening of spoken-word fireworks, presented by Brooklyn Arts Council as part of Black Brooklyn Renaissance. Tai Allen hosts an evening to feature Edwina Tyler, Pamela Sneed, mTkalla keaton, Sabrina Gilbert, Hanifah Walidah, James Lovell, and George Davidson.

Grace: Fresh Poetry Daily

There’s no place like home: The Writer and the Wanderer

Drawing closer to nature: Art in Brooklyn

Another helping: Brooklynometry

Post-romanatic: Do the Math

The old man’s hat: The Spiral Staircase

Psalms 136-138: Water Over Rocks

Cherished, Estranged, Lost, Hurtful, Hopeful, Complicated Sisters and Brothers: Greenlight Bookstore

Singing Stand By Me on the F Train: And I’m Not Lying

Sharon Van Etten tour dates: Brooklyn Vegan

Thoughts on mitigated hell: Old First Blog

It’s not just a rumor anymore. Millenium 2, a replicate of the very popular and successful Millenium High School in Manhattan is coming to Park Slope’s John Jay High School building. What’s more: the principal will be Lisa Gioe-Cordi, who currently runs MS 447: The Math and Science Exploratory Middle School.

I heard the rumor last Friday from a VERY reliable source but didn’t want to irresponsibly spread it around before it was confirmed. But minutes ago, Joyce Szuflita of NYC School Help reports that an announcement was made last night by Principal Gioe-Cordi at a parent’s meeting at MS 447.

New High Schools are always coming online and are usually announced shortly before the New HS Fair in Jan. but news of Millennium II has leaked so Lisa Gioe made an announcement to her parents at MS 447 Math and Science District 15 last night.

Millennium 2 will be opening in the John Jay HS complex on 7th Ave. and 4th St. in Park Slope in Sept. 2011 with Lisa Gioe as principal. It will be a replication of the popular Millennium HS with the addition of an ASD NEST program like the one that has been instituted at 477. I believe that this may be the first program of its kind in a HS. It will also be an “advanced Exploratory Program supporting internships”. It will not be a choice on the Main Round application. If you would like to add the school to your list of HS you can do it during the short period after the New HS Fair in January when you are allowed to resubmit the application and add new programs that will be starting in fall.

For clarification, the ASD-NEST program means that five children with autism spectrum disorder are placed in a class with general education students. The students with autism have their own special education teacher, who travels with them from class to class and assists them with a range of therapies and support services. This program was innovated at MS 447 New Explorations in Math and Science and was the first middle school program of its kind in the city. Millenium 2 will be the first high school program of this kind.

The Second Annual Helping Hands Food Pantry 5K Fun Run will take place on Saturday, 11/20 @ 11:00 a.m.  in Prospect Park. The run begins at the Bartel-Pritchard  15th Street & Prospect Park West entrance of Prospect Park at 11:00.   Participants are invited to walk, bike or run.  All proceeds go to Helping Hands Food Pantry, which operates out of St. Augustine Church in Park Slope.

Helping Hands, which has been in existence since 1992, distributes emergency food supplies to approximately 600 needy residents (men, women and children) in Prospect Heights, Park Slope and Fort Greene Brooklyn each month. All staff work on a volunteer basis. Brooklyn Jubilee, a legal advocacy ministry, which began at Park Slope Presbyterian Church and operates in several Brooklyn locations, works in conjunction with Helping Hands twice monthly to offer free legal advice relating to housing, health insurance, and food stamps

For the past few weeks, Fanny Allié, a young French artist who now makes her home in Brooklyn, assembled clay alphabet letters into a sentence as part of her installation, Something Else, the latest show curated by Krista Saunders and Jill Benson of  G-Train Salon at Urban Alchemist, a Fifth Avenue shop that sells artisan  jewelry, clothing and objects d’art.

“I turned back and went to Stone Park Cafe I sat in the window and watched people passing by.”

At the opening earlier in November, Allié told me that she likes to use language in her work though she is not a writer.  “I write for myself, notes, journals. I like words and I think in English now,” the native-French speaker told me. In her artist statement she writes: “I explore the notion of trace 
that indicates the existence of others and my own. 

Trace also shows the passing of time. Many of my projects suggest the course
 of time as they examine memories, past actions or incidents, and events that 
happened at a specific and recorded time.”

Here’s is Fanny’s story in its entirety:

The stranger was walking on 5th Avenue in my direction when he got close enough he started talking to me.

He invited me for a drink at Ginger’s Bar. We spent hours talking about life.

At midnight we said good bye and we exchanged our numbers. The day after I was walking on 5th Avenue and I saw hm again.

I waved and I smiled at him but he didn’t respond. When I was near him I realized he wasn’t able to see me.

I turned back and went to the Stone Park Cafe. I sat near the window and watched people passing by.

This G-Train Salon made its debut in a living room on Flatbush Avenue and it is committed to showing the work of emerging artists from Brooklyn and Queens (hence the name G-train) in intimate and unusual settings. A discussion with the artist is an important part of the concept and adds immeasurably to the experience, the curator told me.

Cathie Black’s nomination for schools chancellor has certainly stirred anger and controversy this week. I think the anger is exacerbated by the general frustration with Mayor Bloomberg’s autocratic style of governing.

Because Black lacks experience in education or public service her candidacy is being questioned. The fact that Bloomberg made her selection a secret and presented her appointment as a fait accompli only added to already simmering tensions.

Black must get a waiver from State Education Commissioner David Steiner to verify that she is an  “exceptionally qualified person” nonetheless. Some parents, teachers, administrators and politicians think that waiver should be denied.

Petitions are circulating asking the commissioner to deny the waiver. Others, like Oprah Winfrey, support the mayor’s choice.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio may have the best solution. He advocating for a public forum where Black would have to speak publicly to parents, educators, and students about her plans.

Ultimately I think Bloomberg did a disservice to Black. If she is SO qualified he should allow her to speak publically about her managerial vision for the Department of Education. Hiding her in the closet seems like a great way to fan the flames of discontent among the naysayers.

At Inside Schools you can register your opinion on the nomination by Mayor Bloomberg of Cathie P. Black.

So far 9,887 people have signed the petition calling on David M. Steiner to deny the waiver that would enable Cathie Black to be the NYC Schools Chancellor.

Yikes. The last few weeks have been busy, nutty, frustrating, overwhelming and did I mention busy with high school tours, assessments, auditions, interviews and more running around.

I think I speak for all parents involved in this process when I say: WTF?

This morning we went to Williamsburg Preparatory High School and while I review my impressions I offer you links to the other High School Tour Confidential posts, as well as introduce our fab Illustration by Kevin Kocses: www.kevinkocses.carbonmade.com. His expressive and fun illustration really gets at the frustration of this experience. Thank you, Kevin.

Here are the links to the complete High School Tour Confidential Series:

Edward R. Murrow High School,

Midwood High School

the NYC iSchool

Brooklyn Latin School

Frank Sinatra School of the Arts

Beacon

Do Looks Matter?

The Test

At PS 321 there’s an early morning rally to protest the release of the DOE Teacher Data Reports (TDR) naming teachers. A PS 321 parent, Martha Foote of  Time Out from Testing, is spearheading PS 321’s efforts. On Friday morning other schools are also rallying – all at 8:15AM, including MS51,  the Secondary Schools at the John Jay complex, P.S. 29, P.S. 154 and P.S. 24.

Here is the letter from Martha Foote:

As a member of the PS 321 community, I oppose the public release of the Teacher Data Reports (TDRs).  While I fully support meaningful teacher evaluations, the TDRs – which rate teachers based on their classes’ state test score changes from one year to the next in English Language Arts (ELA) and math – have several problems.

1.      Experts agree that progress based solely on test scores is a poor way to measure student achievement or teacher effectiveness.  Learning is complex; assessment should be, too.

2.      The TDRs are full of errors due to inaccurate and unverified data.  For example, classes have been listed to the wrong teachers and non-math teachers have been given math ratings.  Teachers on child care leave have been given ratings even though they weren’t in the classroom.  One principal reported errors on nearly ¼ of her teachers.

3.      The TDRs are calculated using a flawed model that does not take into account a host of variables that affect test scores.  In fact, a recent analysis demonstrates that the TDRs have an average margin of error of 34-61 percentage points out of 100.

4.      Principals report that many of their best teachers have received poor ratings on their TDRs due to the flawed model.  For example, a minute .05 change in math test scores, from 3.97 to 3.92, landed one teacher in the bottom 6% of the rating scale.

5.      The DOE has used flawed test data to calculate the TDRs.  The State Education Department announced this summer that the state test scores have been inaccurate for the past several years, yet these inaccurate test scores are the basis of the TDRs.

Furthermore, I fear the release of the TDRs will harm public education in New York City as excellent teachers will resign rather than face the public humiliation of an inaccurate bad rating.  Additionally, there will be even more test prep in our schools as teachers will be compelled to drive up test scores instead of providing a quality education for all our children.